Boston Officials To Upgrade Security Following Library Shooting

-- Library Journal, 10/19/2005

Local officials promise quick security improvements after a bullet shattered a window and barely missed striking a child at the Boston Public Library's (BPL) Mattapan Branch. The Boston Globe reported that politicos and BPL president Bernie Margolis said that security cameras, motion-sensing lights, a six-foot fence, and warning signs will be installed soon. Police also have stepped up patrols. "If the well-to-do and wealthy can have cameras watching their trash," the publication quoted police Captain Tim Murray, "we can have cameras watching our children." The incident startled patrons and staff alike, who said that the shot passed through the window near a group of children, coming so close to a small boy he said he felt "the wind of the bullet" on his face, and ricocheted off a chair before stopping on top of a book, where it was recovered by authorities.